It is well accepted in mental health circles that 75% of all mental health problems start under the age of 25. At present in Australian schools, the research suggests that 30% of these young people will self identify and get help but approximately 50% with the most serious conditions will remain under the psychological radar, being undiagnosed and untreated.
That the mental health system in crisis is clear, with Professor John Mendoza, the chairman of the National Advisory Council on Mental Health, resigning in May 2010, citing frustration over what he says is the Government's lack of vision and commitment to the mentally ill.
He said that there has been a lack of federal government funding and progress in mental health reform. In interviews, Dr. Mendoza expressed his disappointment that the Government has only invested $30 million per annum for funding when the sector needs at least $1 billion per year.
According to psychiatrist Prof Patrick McGorry, the $26 million per year that is currently allocated is only about a tenth of what is required. He argues that to begin to assemble a backup system for Headspace (The National Youth Mental Health Program) $250 million a year is required.
The government's figures confirm that mental health problems account for about 14 per cent of Australia's ''health burden'', yet barely 6 per cent of health funding goes to this area. And in the recent COAG health agreement to spend billions over the next five years, less than 2 per cent of the total has been allocated to improving mental health services.
Barbara Hocking CEO of SANE, asked in a recent article, "... what happens when services are given less than half the funding necessary to do their job? The answer is ''triage''. When there is adequate funding, this is a sensible way of allocating resources to do the most good. However, when funding is inadequate, it basically comes down to rationing of healthcare."
Barbara Hocking argued that triage now has become a brutal mechanism to deny or delay care to everyone except for those who are extremely unwell, and sometimes not even then. This is an unenviable position for everyone, including health professionals, who are often perceived as the villains: for turning people away as ''not sick enough''; for sending people home with inadequate support after a suicide attempt; for discharging people from hospital without finding them somewhere to live that offers appropriate day-to-day help; for leaving families to struggle to provide care without any support; and, most of all, for leaving people who are at their most vulnerable and distressed to continue to suffer and fend for themselves. Without the resources, though, choices are limited and defensive crisis management quickly becomes the norm.
Greatly increased funding is absolutely essential if mental health services are to be resourced fairly, on a par with physical healthcare.
The Rudd/Gillard government has promised more will be done in 2011. That's good news. But the same was promised in 2010, 2009 and 2008, and very little happened. Just a few months ago, the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised a ''a historic reshaping of Australia's mental health services'. I and many colleagues are waiting...
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Hi Michael,
As an individual with 3 immediate family memebers with the condition bi-polar I am very experienced to comment on the way the health system works for the mentally ill and its affects on the family -
My father was diagnosed with bi-polar around the age of 40, my sister then started to experience depression episodes and was in and out of pysch -public and private until she was diagnosed with bi-polar around age of 22. My brother was then also diagnosed around the age of 22 with bi-polar and he blames the stress of dealing with my father but more particularly my sister as her illness greatly impacted on his pre-teenage years and continues to do so annually.
It is heart wrentching to see medical staff have to make assessments based on whether there is room in the hospital tied in with how "sick" the patient is. When my family members are at this stage they are somewhat impatient and then they become very reactive and often this flows into the Emergency arena of hospitals as they keep representing themselves and finally they need to reach almost suicidal before they are admitted. The system is geared around the treatment of the person and does nothing to lesson the impact these episodes have on the family members. Having other family members with the condition often leads to a domino effect as my brother struggles to contain his anger and frustration over how his sister reoccuring yearly episodes affect him. My father then will hit lows for weeks after she recovers as he has been very active visiting her in hospital at these difficult times and my mother and I become somewhat fragile as we counsel our own family members and all parties affected around us.
I can only hope that the system improves - it has evolved slightly since I first became exposed to its gaps in funding and outpatient services as they are sometimes managed by caseworkers who rotate out on a regular basis preventing continuity of care and support - often leading to more stress that leads to new episodes. By the time they are admitted it to psych often takes months for them to recover from their episodes as they are quite severe at this stage.
I am now 35 and look to the future.
I could have another 50 years of these events between my brother and sister... my only wish is that it keeps improving - otherwise I feel like a lab rat on a wheel... it never ends. Whilst I would hate for anyone else to have to go through what our family does, I sometimes wish that the ones who make the decisions would experience this first hand so they can look past the numbers on the balance sheet and see how this impacts on families like a ripple effect and how there is no quick easy fix or one-stop shop solutions.
Well, it’s amazing. The miracle has been done. Hat’s off. Well done, as we know that “hard work always pays off”, after a long struggle with sincere effort it’s done.
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johndouglas
High Yield Savings Account
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